


Water Angel

by sasuhina_gal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, H20 Just Add Water AU, M/M, Trans Pidge | Katie Holt, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-20 12:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8249504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasuhina_gal/pseuds/sasuhina_gal
Summary: Lance was known as Arus's water angel until an incident changed that forever, turning him to a mermaid anytime he touches water. After two years when the place that changed him starts to attack him and his friends, he wonders if he'll ever feel safe. But when Keith, a curious free diver pokes his nose in, he starts to wonder if someone can make him feel safe instead.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I had gotten inspired by astrogazers mermaid AU, and then I watching season 3 of H2O Just add water and then this came. It was spinning in my head for a while and I actually wrote out headcannons for it. I don’t usually do that, but I think that’s an indication that I really want to do this. Yeah, anyway, please enjoy the first chapter.

Lance remembered the first time he saw Allura. It was hard not to. She had long shocking bright white hair falling down her back. She was also wearing the strangest clothes for the beach. Arus was a seaside town that was big enough that any bit of gossip wasn’t spread through the town in seconds but still small enough where you knew most of the people. Most of the days it was sunny, pretty hot and others cooler but nothing that allows a sweater, jeans and boots on the beach. Lance was supposed to be looking out at the water, making sure no one drowned but Allura was gaining his attention and he wasn’t the only one. He saw beach goers glancing in her direction and doing a double take.

When he told Hunk at the seaside café, Lion’s Castle later, he explained who she was.

“You know the marine biologist, Doctor Alfor Altea?” when Lance made an affirmative sound from around his frozen strawberry lemonade, Hunk continued, “His daughter came to live with him recently. The white hair? That’s from her dad.”

Alfor was known as a bit of local celebrity. He was a good looking bisexual man who was known for his great love for the ocean. If you didn’t know him, you knew his husband Coran. If there was a word for Coran, it was eccentric or any other word that meant something more.

“You know, I didn’t even know Doctor A had a kid. If it wasn’t for the really white hair, I would question it. But who wears a sweater on the beach? A light sweatshirt, ok fine. But a sweater and boots?”

“Probably doesn’t understand the weather over here.”

Lance shrugged, “Well if she does pass out because of overheating, I’d be more than willing to help her cool off.” Lance said, with a flirtatious smile.

“Lance, try not to scare off the new girl please.” Hunk begged

Lance, for the sake of not freaking Hunk out, was on his best behaviour whenever she was around. He kept his flirting to a minimum but it hadn’t really matter since she never paid any attention to him anyway. She floated to the back of his mind until the trip that changed everything.

* * *

 

Hunk had suggested the camping trip in the first place.

“We spend too much time inside or out on the beach. We need to do something different.”

“Hunk, buddy, we’re surfers. We like going to the beach, plus you are looking at Arus’s Water Angel.”

But Hunk wouldn’t be swayed. So Lance borrowed his older brother’s boat and with a sleeping bag, clothes and his share of camping items, the two were heading to Voltron Island. The island was a good while away from Arus’s shoreline and the home to some of the myths that caused tourist to come into the town. Tales of mermaids and sirens had floated around the island for as long as Lance knew.   He never believed them, but he did wonder every now and then if they had ever at one point been true. I mean, stories had to come from somewhere.

And come somewhere they did. While the two were exploring the island, Lance almost slipped into hole when Allura came out of nowhere and grabbed him before he could fall farther. While he was grateful, Lance wouldn’t stop asking how she got to the island but she kept dodging the question. The amount of siblings Lance had made him a master at noticing changed subjects. The two went at it for so long they didn’t realise that a storm that had been approaching released its anger. The look of horror took over Allura’s face so quickly the two men became concerned. She tried to take off but didn’t get very far when her whole body was covered in veil of bubbles and a shimmering light. What came after that stayed burned in Lance’s mind for a long time.

The bubbles disappeared and Allura fell to the floor. Her legs were replaced with a pink tail with scatters of the lightest blue making the tail look iridescent. The tail faded back to skin from her waist upward, where her chest was covered in the same coloured scales. Her face was framed by scales as well and her ears were replaced with fin ears. They all stared at each other for a long while before anyone spoke.

“M-mer…Lance?” Hunk stuttered

“I see it buddy.”

He couldn’t remember how they were able to get back to their tent, but there they sat in silence when Allura lifted her hand and faced it to her tail. She clenched her hand into a fist and steam started to rise from the tail. Lance let out a few coughs before waving the steam from his face. In its place were Allura’s legs back in its jeans. In fact, she was completely human now. The silence felt heavier now. Allura looked so disappointed and angry.

“Um,” he started hesitantly, “so I guess this means the stories are true?”

“The stories?” confusion joined the emotions covering Allura’s face

“Stories about mermaids and sirens coming here. Everyone who’s lived her long enough they hear these stories.” Hunk mentioned

“Mermaids and mermen are perfectly allowed to be here. It’s the sirens who aren’t.” Allura said the word ‘sirens’ with such anger, Lance was sure whatever power she had used before was bound to make another appearance.

Allura slowly started to explain herself. It turned out that she was a mermaid that recently came to surface where her father and step-father, Alfor and Coran had been living for the past 15 years. The three of them originally lived in what was once the biggest merpod that had ever existed. That was before a group of sirens called Galra had attacked, causing survives to split up and leave. Allura talked about the many powers merpeople had and how she stayed underwater with people from her pod’s council so she could get perfect control. When she did, she came up to the surface to be with her parents.

“That explains you choice in clothes.” Lance said out loud. Seeing the confused look on her face, Lance explained, “People don’t usually wear heavy sweater and boots to the beach.”

“Oh.”

“Hey,” Hunk chimed in, “since you trust us enough to tell us your story, how about we help you understand this world.”

Allura looked at both teens and slowly nodded. “I’d really appreciate that.”

And with that, Lance and Hunk were given the job of having to keep the biggest secret to keep 3 people safe from anyone who didn’t understand. But they didn’t realise that they were about to become part of that secret.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So thanks to everyone who left me kudos and comments. One person said it was off to a bit of a bumpy start, and I know. Honestly the chapter I post got changed to that about halfway through. I’m hoping that I get better as the story goes on but I wouldn’t be opposed to a beta writer. I tend to find some on Fanfiction.net for those stories but there’s barely any Voltron fics there. If anyone of you guys would like to help me, message me at sasuhinasno1fan. (Don’t judge the name, sasuhina is not my only otp) so here’s where everything changes. I hope you enjoy it.

The start to the thing he thought had ruined his life started when he got a call early in the morning from Pidge. Pidge was an enigma. She was a male to female transgender and despite her huge support from her family, she endured many bullies. Her skills in technology made it easy to get back at them with the added bonus of her young age made her attacker underestimate her.

Lance remembered when he first met her. It was the beginning of their sophomore year and he had been going to his locker, when Pidge was coming out of one of the IT rooms.

“Hey kid, what are you doing here? Did you lose your parents?”

The utter look of annoyance that then graced Pidge’s face was something he didn’t forget. She turned to him, the glare on her face looking like it could kill. She stomped over to him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her height and shoved a paper in his face. He read, ‘Kathrine Holt, Sophomore (SKIP)’. He knew what SKIP was. It was a program that allowed younger students who could understand the work of high grade students, enter high school earlier.

“O-oh, opps. Sorry. I didn’t know.”

She let him go, looking more annoyed than angry, “it’s starting to get annoying having to explain this to everyone.”

“Yeah my bad. Gotta be hard being around a bunch of people older than you.”

She shrugged, “not really. I just pretend I’m around my brother with a much lower IQ.”

“Ouch,” Lance said, pretending to be hurt, “my apologies that my IQ isn’t high enough. And to think I was going to invite you to hang with me.”

Pidge was starting to get a smile on her face. She was enjoying this, if only a bit. “And why would I want to do that?”

“Something tells me my man Hunk could best you in smarts.” Seeing the interested look, he gave a small shrug, “please? As an apology? You’ll like Hunk, trust me.”

She let out a sigh and stuck her hand out, “Pidge. And if I get bored, I’m leaving.”

“Fair enough. I’m Lance.” he was happy say that Pidge wasn’t bored. While Hunk couldn’t beat her in smarts, he had her up on ropes. Before he knew it, Pidge became one of their friends and had told them about her choice in pronouns. Because she was so much younger than everyone around her, Lance never really saw her sad or scared. That’s why Pidge called with her voice sounding like she had been crying, he was immediately concerned.

“Pidge? Pidge, what’s wrong?”

“I-it’s Matt.” She said, sniffling over the phone, “there was an accident at his job. He’s really hurt and-Lance can you come? I already called Hunk.”

Lance was already up, pulling on clothes. “Yeah, but what about your parents?”

“They’re in the next town at a conference. T-they’re on their way. Lance, please. I’m worried and I don’t know what to do and I don’t want to be alone.”

It was killing Lance to hear Pidge like this. He knew she and her brother were close and he knew he’d be the same if anything happened to any of his siblings.

“I’m heading out now. Don’t worry Pidge, I’m sure Matt is fine. I’ll be there soon, ok?” Lance sprinted out the door and before he knew it, he was meeting Hunk at the front doors.

Hunk led them to the front desk and asked them where they could find Matt. The nurse on duty must have felt sorry for them because she told them where she had seen Pidge go and hide because she couldn’t wait for the doctor. They found her at the doors of the ICU, curled up in a corner. They sat on either side of her and sat in silence until she started to speak.

“There was an explosion at the labs. Matt was still really close so he got hit really hard. He’s in a coma and they said that he had a lot of broken bones. They won’t tell me anymore than that till my parents get here.” Tears started to fill her red rimmed eyes before she buried her face into her knees. Hunk pulled her into a side hug, while Lance leaned against her. They stayed like that for what felt like hours.

Finally her parents arrived, completely frazzled. They quickly spoke with the doctor, while Pidge finally calmed down enough.

“The damage he received could have been much worse. There are many broken bones that we’d like to have him stay here so they can heal first. There is also the damage to his leg and arm.”

“W-will it be ok?” Pidge asked, Hunk’s hands pressed comfortingly on her shoulders.

“It’ll be a long way, but I have complete belief that his rehab will help him.”

The Holts let out sighs of relief, Amanda Holt looking like she wanted to collapse. They were about to be escorted to Matt’s room when Pidge turned to her friends.

“Um,” Lance still wasn’t used to seeing Pidge look so uncomfortable, but he didn’t hold it against her, “thanks. I don’t know how I could have tried to keep myself together if you didn’t come.”

“Hey, we’re your friends. You can count on us.” Lance said.

“Thanks. I think I’ll be fine with my parents here.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to stay? We don’t mind.” Hunk said

“I’ll be fine. Really.” Pidge reassured them.

The two guys looked at each other before Lance nodded. “Ok, but call us immediately if you need us, even if it’s for something small, got it?”

“I will. Thank you.” She gave them both a hug before she followed her parents.

Lance looked at Hunk, who had a determined look on his face. “So I’m guessing, food for them so they don’t have to eat bad hospital food?”

“Yep.”

“Need help with groceries?”

“What else are you good for?” Hunk teased as he led them out

Lance pretended to feel insulted, “see if I ever offer to help you ever again.”

* * *

 

Pidge had taken time off from school to help her mother with checking in on Matt. Lance would have been worried but the exams that the school sent to her were still being passed. The thing he did worry about was the amount of stress she put on herself to help her brother. He wanted to get her out of the hospital so she could breathe for a bit. He didn’t realise what it ultimately bring later.

He and Hunk were at Lion’s Castle after a surfing session when Pidge came in and sat at their table.

“Hey! She’s alive. How’s Matt?” Hunk asked

“A bit better. Bones are healing and he seems fine, but…it does still freak me out how much pain he’s in but doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t want to worry my parents but I know he feels like he’s in a bit more pain then he says.”

“There anything we can do?” Lance asked

“Actually,” Pidge pulled a book from her bag. It was damaged and slightly burned. “So, you know how Matt’s into plants and stuff like that? How he finds them and documents them.”

“What, like Peeta and Katniss from Hunger Games?” Hunk asked

“Kinda. I want to do something for him. So whenever I’m not at the hospital, I’m at the local flower shop seeing if they have any of the flowers and plants he pressed into the book. I found everything, except one.” She carefully opened the book to a page with a flower with purple petals that turned redder the closer it got to the middle. “It’s a weird flower he found on Voltron Island. It’s the only one I haven’t been able to find at the flower shop and none of the other places I’ve called have it. My parents won’t let me go over to Voltron Island myself, so I was wondering if you’d come with me?”

Lance wanted to say yes immediately. It was a strange one, but he was sure it’d help destress Pidge. Hunk nudged him and gave him a look. It took a bit for it to click, Allura. Right, the mermaid princess they were helping protect Voltron Island. He was sure that Allura wouldn’t like Pidge searching the entire island just for a flower. She was extremely protective of the place.

“Uh, maybe. I have a bunch of shifts this week.” Lance said

“Ok, I guess.”

“We’ll definitely try and see, ok? We’ll talk to our parents and call you. Just don’t go by yourself please?” Hunk said

Pidge nodded, looking slightly uncertain. Lance didn’t like the look on her face.

_‘Hopefully Allura will be fine with us going with Pidge.’_

They met with Allura on the beach and explained the situation to her.

“I don’t know,” Allura said, as she walked down the beach with the two, “I don’t even know who this Pidge person is.”

“She’s in the same class as us, we’ve been friends for a while. Look, I know you don’t know her, but she needs this.” Hunk explained

“You’ve heard about the accident at that lab right, the explosion? Pidge’s brother was in that and they’re really close.” Lance continued, “She’s been stressing herself out to help her brother and even though she’s working, I really think this will help her.”

Allura kept quiet for a moment longer before asking, “What is she looking for?”

“This flower. It’s purple and goes red near the middle of the flower.”

Allura nodded, “I know that flower. Do you remember where the waterfall is? I’ve seen it by bushes near there.”

“So…we can go?” Lance asked

Allura nodded. “You have to be careful though. Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere near that entrance. Humans aren’t allowed near the entrance. Make sure you don’t go near it.”

“You know,” Lance started, “you never told us what’s down there.”

Allura just turned, a scowl on her face, “Lance, I haven’t told you because I can’t trust you with that information. All I will tell you is, there’s a pool down there that is very important to us. Just don’t get down there.”

Lance almost asked why but Allura was protective of the Island. He knew he wouldn’t get an answer, so he dropped it. The point was, they could help Pidge, and that’s all he wanted.

But he didn’t realise that his kind gesture was about to turn on him.

* * *

Lance drove the boat to Voltron Island, ignoring Hunk’s moaning. The taller boy had motion sickness and Lance had been surprised he survived the trip to the Island the first time.

“So you know where it is?” Pidge asked from her seat.

“Yep. When we went camping there we spotted it. So we can go get it then head back so we get it pressed.”

“Or maybe,” Hunk stopped to let out a groan as his stomach churned, “maybe, we could walk around so I don’t hurl.”

Pidge sighed looking unimpressed at Hunk, “you surf on a thin board frequently. How is it this makes you sick?”

“The waves work with you when surfing. This just works against,” Hunk covered his mouth before throwing up overboard. Lance slowed the boat down to let his friend empty his stomach, furrowing his nose in slight disgust.

“Ok, if this how bad he really is, we are taking as long as we need for him to settle his stomach.” Pidge announced looking slightly put off.

“Good idea.” Lance agreed when Hunk finally finished.

They arrived to the island and they lead Pidge to the waterfall. She stopped every now and then to look around. She had only heard of the Island but like most of the people, she never visited.

They found the river first and followed it up to the waterfall. Hunk let the fresh and cool breeze calm his stomach more while Lance helped look for the flower.

Lance looked at the clusters of flowers looking for the purple flower. “I don’t see it.”

“Where exactly did you see it?” Pidge asked

“Just around here.” Lance said. _‘Damn, Allura should have told me exactly where these flowers are. If we can’t find them anytime soon, Pidge is gonna get pissed and probably storm off.’_

Like he thought, Pidge was starting to get a bit annoyed.

“Where is it? Lance, are you sure you saw it here?”

“Yeah, I remember it being around here.”

“Then where the hell is it? I don’t have all day!”

“Guys,” the two turned to Hunk, who was near the fall itself. “I found it.”

Sure enough, growing in a small bunch were the flowers.

“Hunk, you amazing person, remind me to tell you how much I love you later.” Pidge said, pulling off her bag and pulling things out.

“Aww.” Hunk said, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

Lance nudged his best friend, “nice one dude. Any longer and I’m sure she would of stormed off.”

They watched Pidge unearth the one blossom that looked the most bloomed and wrap the ends of it gently with a paper towel. She wrapped it in a layer of plastic and tucked into her bag.

“That’s it. This is everything.” Pidge turned to her best friends, “thanks.”

“No problem. You’re lucky my amazing finding skills found the flower.” Lance said

“Hunk found the flower, stupid.” Pidge retorted

“No love.” Lance muttered under his breath. “I guess before we head back we can look around. You need the excuse to not think about your brother.”

“I guess. Anywhere in particular?”

“Let’s see where the wind takes us.” Lance said, letting Pidge lead the way

“Lance, what if Pidge gets too close to the entrance?” Hunk whispered

“Then we’ll stop her. The chances of her wanting to check it out is kinda slim don’t you think?”

Lance was so sure nothing would happen. Even as they got closer to the entrance, he had hopes nothing would happen. He watched as Pidge climbed at the top of the peak and turned to look at the scenery below.

“This is really amazing. I guess it’s good that people don’t here as often. Can you imagine people trying to take over the island for a park or something?” Pidge asked, taking pictures with their phone. “They’d even have to get a working cell tower out here, I’ve got no service.”

“So we ready to head back?” Lance asked

Pidge nodded and started to climb down the peak. But just like Lance had, her foot slipped into the entrance and losing her balance, she fell in.

“Pidge!” Lance grabbed her hand, but the force of weight pulled him in. the two slid down a slanted hill until they reached a sandy bottom. Lance groaned when he heard Hunk calling to them. Pidge pushed herself up and looked around. They were in a sort of stone room with very little light.

“Where are we?” she asked out loud.

“Guys? Are you ok? Hey answer – ah!” Hunk had been crouched in front of the entrance when he fell in. Lance had just pushed himself up when Hunk landed on him.

“Hunk, buddy. I love you but you need to get off me now!” Lance wheezed out

Hunk rolled off and looked around the room, his anxiety evident on his face.

“Lance, we’re not supposes to be here.”

“Let’s worry about getting out of here first buddy.” Lance said, finally pushing himself up

“We can’t go back the way we came, that path is too steep.” Pidge pointed out before standing up. “Maybe there’s another exit somewhere.” She led them down to the end of the room where there was a cluster of rocks that acted like steps. Lance saw the stairs were painted in moving blue light. Pidge climbed the stairs and the two followed her.

“Lance.” Hunk said, tugging at his friend’s shirt

“Yeah, I know buddy.” A large pool was in the middle of the room. The floor was covered in sand and there was a natural water fall with small pool catches in one of the walls.

“That can’t be possible. How is there a spring so far down? And isn’t this where the volcano is” Pidge asked looking up at the cone opening

“Lance, this is exactly what Allura told us not to do.”

“I know Hunk, but there’s not much we can do. The most we can do is get Pidge out of here. But I wonder what’s so special about this pool.”

“Maybe a safe haven, from the Galra.”

“Guys, where are we?” Pidge asked, looking around the room again

“Well, we can’t really tell you.” Hunk said

Putting her hands on her hips and glaring, “and why not?”

“Because Allura is the best person to tell you. Check it out,” Lance pointed to the pool, “there are waves coming in. the pool probably leads out to the sea.” He pulled off his shoes and dropped his phone on top of them. He saw that there was a ring in the water that acted like a step, with another small step in the front. He dived into the water and exited through the underwater entrance.

Pidge turned to Hunk, whose anxiety didn’t look like it’s diminished at all. “Hunk, Lance said Allura would be the best person to explain what’s going on. Did he mean Dr. Altea’s daughter?”

Hunk nodded, not taking his eyes from the pool. “I can’t really give you the whole story but this place, it’s special to Allura.”

“Ok, new question. How the hell did I not know that you two knew her?”

Hunk finally looked at Pidge, a slightly pensive look on his face. “Uh, it never really came up. Sorry. If it make you feel any better. She didn’t really know about you till we asked her if it’ll be ok if we bring you here.”

“Ask?” Before Pidge could ask anything else, Lance came back through the entrance and came out of the water.

“Good news, the entrance leads out into the reefs. It’s a 20 second swim underwater to get through and there’s enough space for all of us. It won’t take long to swim back to the shore after that.”

While Hunk finally seemed please, Pidge started to look anxious.

“Are you sure that’s the only way out?”

“It’s the only one I’ve found. We haven’t been here before.”

Pidge started to look very uncomfortable and Hunk looked at her in concern, “Pidge? Are you ok?”

“Um, I might not know how to swim.”

* * *

 

Hunk was in the water while Lance tried coxing Pidge in. the girl sat at the edge of the pool, her feet tucked against her.

“Pidge, come on. The sun’s already down, if we don’t go now we won’t be able to see where we can go.”

“Forget people saying you can swim in the dark, it’s not safe.” Hunk said

“It’s just, Matt promised me he’d finally teach me to swim this year, but that didn’t happen.”

“Ok, Pidge, listen to me. That flower you have in your bag, it’s for Matt. We need to get out of here so you can give it to him. I know you’re scared, but we’re not going to let you drown. Give your bag to Hunk and you’re going to hold onto me.” Pidge slowly pulled it off her back and through it to Hunk. “Ok, now take my hand and when you’re in the water, you’re going to wrap your arms around me, ok?”

Pidge was about to take Lance hand, when she scuttled backwards. The water started to bubble and glow. Hunk looked up and saw that the moon was shining directly over the pool.

“Ok, weird. Pidge, come on.”

“I think I’m gonna wait till it stops bubbling. No offence but I don’t know anything about this place and I’d like to stay alive for that, thanks.”

Lance sighed. He knew this wasn’t Pidge’s ideal situation and now the weird light show wasn’t helping.

“Allura has a lot of explaining to do.” Lance muttered as he looked up himself, willing for whatever was happening to stop. When the moon moved away from directly overhead, the pool finally stopped bubbling and the light disappeared.

“Ok, it’s over. Pidge, come on. The sooner we’re out of here, the sooner we can get back home.”

Extremely cautious, she put her feet in the water. She let Lance pull her in, immediately wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Alright, take a big breath,” he instructed as he adjusted Pidge’s grip. He nodded at Hunk who took one himself before going under water. “Big breath.” He said. When he heard Pidge, he took one himself and followed Hunk under the water. He followed his friend out of the pool into the sea before heading up to the surface. They all broke through at the same time and breathed in the air.

“Hey Pidge, you ok?” Hunk asked

“I’m fine, but that was longer than 20 seconds.” Just then, a police siren sounded and they three were assaulted with bright search lights.

“This is the Arus Water Police. Please make your way to the boarding ladder at the rear of the boat.”

“Oh no, what if we’re getting arrested? What if they say that Voltron Island is private property and we were trespassing? What if –”

“Hunk, I’m pretty sure one of our parents called them to come and look for us. We were supposed to be back by sundown.” Pidge said

“Oh, right.” Hunk said before leading the way to the boat. When they got on, one of the officers gave them warm blankets.

“Are you kids ok?”

“We’re fine. Our boat, though.”

“One of the officers is driving back to land. What happened?”

“We got stuck in one of the caves. We had to swim through the sea entrance to get out.” Pidge explained

“When Dr. Altea called, he seemed to think that happened.”

“Wait, Dr. Altea? He called you?” Hunk asked

“Yeah, said his daughter mentioned you were supposed to meet her after coming back from the island but when you never showed up, he called us to check it out. Come on, let’s get you guys in the cabin. You need to get warm.”

Pidge turned to the others, “not now, cause it’s not the best time, but you guys are giving me the whole story tomorrow.”

Of course, they didn’t know that the next day was when everything was going to change.

It started when Hunk knocked on the bathroom door of his house. “Mari, hurry up! You’ve been in there forever.”

“One second!” his sister yelled back. Finally the door opened and his younger sister walked out, tightening the belt on her robe. “What’s the rush anyway?”

“I have to meet Lance.”

“I’m still surprised that mom and dad didn’t ground you after what happened last night.”

“Maybe because it wasn’t my fault. We got stuck so we couldn’t really be punished for that.” Hunk said before closing and locking the door. He turned on the shower and pulled his clothes off. He didn’t want to be late, so he jumped in right after. He was making the water warmer when he felt it. His legs started to feel tingly and when he looked down, he saw himself turn into water for a split second before it disappeared. His legs felt strange and his whole centre of balance felt off. He tried to catch his balance before falling sideways, pulling the shower curtain down with him. The crash seemed to echo throughout the whole house, that Mari ran out of her room and knocked on the door.

“Hunk? Are you ok?”

“Y-yeah!” Mari looked concerned at the door. She knew that voice, Hunk was panicking.

“Hunk, are you sure? Open the door.”

“I’m fine. I just slipped in the shower. I’m fine really. I’ll be out in a sec.”

Mari looked really concerned. “I’m getting mom and dad.” She took off towards the stairs, leaving Hunk alone.

Inside the bathroom, Hunk stared at his legs, or at least where his legs where. In their place, was a yellow tail. Small sparks of orange and white were mixed in, reminding Hunk a bit of a sunset. He lifted his hand to his face, where he felt scales. He took deep breaths, trying to control his breath.

“Ok, Hunk. Do not panic. So you suddenly have a tail. It’ll be ok. You’ll be fine. Do not panic. Ok, get dry. When Allura was dry, it disappeared.” He yanked his towel down and rubbed his body down before tackling his tail. He rubbed, agitating his scales. Oh god, his scales. He had scales. “Stop. Don’t focus on that. Just don’t.” finally after what felt like so long, the same tingling sensation was back and his legs were back. He felt his face, no scales. Just then there was more knocking on the door.

“Hunk, sweetie. Can you open the door?” his mom. Oh god, he couldn’t tell her. Using the towel to turn the water off, Hunk wrapped himself in the towel, keeping the wet parts away from him. He unlocked to door and was greeted by his parents’ worried faces. “Sweetie, are you ok? Mari said it sounded like you were having a panic attack.”

“I-I’m fine. Just startled myself when I fell. Sorry.”

“That’s fine. Are you hurt though? Should we take you to the hospital or something?”

“No, no. it’s fine really. I need to change.” He squeezed past his parents and quickly ran to his room. He planted himself against the door when he was inside and took a deep breath. “Ok, get changed. Text Lance and go to Allura.” Hunk grabbed his phone, that was thankfully still working thanks to Pidge putting it and the others in a plastic bag her had in her bag, and pulled up their group chat.

Pidge, Lance. Something strange happened to me this morning. We need to talk to Allura, now

With Lance, he had just turned off the water, having the perfect amount of water in the tub. He dropped a bath bomb in and started to pull off his clothes. He grabbed a face mask crème and sat it at the edge of the tub. After the night before, he felt like he deserved a little pampering time before he had to meet up with Hunk. He climbed in and sighed at the warm water.

“Perfect temperature. I’ve gotten good at making the perfect bath without having to check the water.” He grabbed the container when he felt a tingling in his legs. He looked over to where the bath bomb was still fizzing away. “What the he –” light blinded him for a moment and he suddenly felt cramped in the tub. When could see again, he gapped at the blue tail that was poking from the water. He stared at it in disbelief. “No way. No way.” He felt his face and let out a curse when he felt scales framing his face. “No way, this isn’t happening. Tell me this isn’t happening.”

Pidge herself was heading to the hospital with her mother. After she had gotten safely home and let her parents worry over her, she spent the night drying the flower to the best of her ability without damaging it and was able to press it into the book.

“Katy, sweetie, are you sure you’re up for visiting your brother?” her mother asked

“Yeah, mom. I’m fine. Plus Matt will love to hear what I went through.”

They were walking past one of the rows of plants when the sprinklers went off, spraying them with water. They yelped in surprise and ran to the front doors of the hospital. Pidge shaked water off oh herself, looking annoyed when her mother passed her a handkerchief. She cleaned her glasses before using it to brush off most of the water from her hair.

“Well that was interesting.” Amanda said

“Or annoying. I’ve had enough of water for a while, thanks.” She complained, glaring at her mother slightly when she giggled. “Not funny.”

“You act like a little kitten sweetie. You can’t blame me.” As they headed up to Matt’s room, Pidge felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and after opening the screen, she raised an eyebrow at Hunk message. _‘Allura? I thought we were going to do that later.’_

They reached Matt’s room and had opened the door when it went off again.

Hunk, I think I might be going through what you are. Pidge, you need to meet us immediately. This isn’t something we can ignore.

_‘Ok, what’s going on?’_

“Katy?” Pidge looked at her brother, who looked at her concerned, “are you ok? Is it something from last night?”

“Uh, kinda. Matt, I’m sorry but I have to meet the guys really quick. Hopefully this won’t take long.”

“Sure, then you can tell me all about you’re adventure.” Matt said. She gave a guilty smile to him before waving at her slightly stunned mother and heading back to the entrance of the hospital

This better be good. I just had to leave my brother.

Lance answered back quickly, it is. Meet us at Cover Drive. We need to talk to Allura

When she reached Cover Drive, she saw Hunk with a panicked look on his face, Lance almost looking exactly the same.

“What is going on? Why do we have to talk to Allura?”

“Have you gotten sprayed with water or something today?” Lance asked

“Uh, yeah. I got sprayed by the sprinklers at the hospital. Why?”

“Did anything happen after that?”

“Other than me being annoyed, no. Lance, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“It’d be better to explain at Allura’s.” he led them down the street. Hunk didn’t look any less panicked and Lance was a bundle of anxious energy, Pidge could see that much. She really hoped this Allura had answers, because she had a lot on questions.

They reached a house and Lance pulled open the gate and got to the door before abusing the doorbell. When Hunk didn’t reprend him, Pidge started to feel worried. The door swung opened and a man with orange hair and an impressive moustache looked annoyed.

“Lance, what are you doing?”

“Where’s Allura?” Lance demanded

“Allura? Inside, why? What’s going on?”

“Maybe she can explain how Hunk and I suddenly started to grow mermaid tails when in water.”

“Mermaid tails?” Pidge questioned under her breath

The annoyed look on the man’s face disappeared and was replaced with concern. “Oh dear. Come in, I’ll get her and Alfor.” He led them all inside. Pidge assumed that the man was Coran. She never really saw him around, but she had heard about him. But what did Lance mean when he started talking about mermaid tails. She knew about the myths about mermaids at Voltron Island, but there was no way that was true.

When Lance saw Allura sitting on the couch in her living room, he stomped over to her and glared.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Tell you what?”

“The pool. You said to avoid it, but you forgot to mention that if we’re in it, we become mermaids? Allura, what the hell?”

Allura looked struck, “that’s the pool you went into?”

“Allura,” Hunk finally spoke, “what happened to us? About 10 seconds after we were in water, we changed, just like you did. What happened?”

“That is the moon pool’s power.” Alfor finally came in. his face looked guilty and slightly disappointed. “Allura told you to avoid going there because the moon pool has the power to change humans into mermaid during a full moon, just like last night.” He looked over and noticed Pidge. “Is this your friend?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m Pidge. What’s going on? Are mermaids actually real?”

Alfor sighed and took a seat on an armchair, “yes. All those myths that you’ve probably heard throughout your time living here are mostly true. Allura, Coran and I are all merfolk. Allura stayed in the ocean with other merfolk when our merpod was attacked by a group of violent sirens called Galra. Voltron Island has been well known to us merfolk as a safe haven. We can hide in the moon pool to rest and be safe. And being in the pool during the full moon helps us feel rejuvenated.

“However, it’s warned that humans avoid it at all cost. If they are in the pool when the moon is directly overhead, their biology changes. Now whenever they touch water, they have ten seconds to get as dry before they gain their tail. I’m afraid, that’s happened to you.”

Lance looked furious, but also disbelieving. “Is there any way to reverse it?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Lance clenched his hand and whirled around to Allura, “I hope you’re happy! Thanks to you, I’m nothing but a disappointment. I can never forgive you for this.” Before anyone could stop him, Lance was out of the house, the slamming door signalling his depart.

“Disappointment? What, what does he mean?”

“Are you an only child Allura?” Hunk asked

“Why?”

“This is something us humans experience that we’ve been meaning to teach you.”

Alfor had Pidge and Hunk sit and left them to explain things to his daughter. He already had a very good idea as to why Lance was upset. This was something his daughter was going to have to learn.

“I’m guessing Lance told you about being Arus’ water angel.” Pidge started. She was still trying to wrap her head around what she just found out. Any other time, she’d be asking a million questions, but Lance was hurting and she needed the woman in front of her to understand why.

“He’s mentioned it, but I’m not really sure what it really means.”

“Basically every water sport and event Arus has to offer, except free diving, Lance has been involved in. even though some of his own sibling have been involved in some of them, it hasn’t been to the extent that Lance has. The town decided to give him the name because of all the competitions he’s won. And since they’re all in the water…”

“Are you telling me Lance is annoyed he can’t do his water sports anymore?”

“It’s more than that.” Hunk stated, “Lance comes from a really big family, he’s essentially the middle child.”

“What does that mean?”

“We don’t really experience it because we have one sibling,” Pidge explained, “but being the middle child means you don’t get tons of attention. Your older sibling have done amazing things and your younger get attention cause they’re younger and cute. Lance’s had to deal with that so the title of Arus’ water angel, it means more to him than you know.”

“He feels like it’s the only thing that he can make his parents proud with. His parents love him, but without the attention he needs, he always thinks he disappoints them.” Hunk said

Allura fell silent. She kept the information from them because she wasn’t sure how well she could trust them. They hadn’t betrayed her trust at all but she didn’t return the favour. She was lucky; she knew without a doubt her father loved her. She never thought about how some people could feel surrounded by so many people that they feel left out. And because she kept her silence, Lance felt like his life was ruined forever.

“It meant that much to him?” Pidge and Hunk nodded. “And I ruined it by trying to keep the secrets of the Island just that, secrets.”

* * *

 

Lance sat on a bench near the marine park. Allura had called him, asking to meet her there. He hadn’t spoken to Allura in a while. The time he left her house, he had locked himself in his room, not letting anyone in. when he couldn’t take his family’s questions anymore, he told them he was giving up water sports. He didn’t tell them why but he felt like he couldn’t face them. His family always like to brag about him being the water angel and now he had to give that up. He hated that he could go surfing or swim at the pool anymore. He had gone swimming in the ocean though. He was amazed at how powerful the tail was. He could swim from the hidden shores all the way to the island in what seemed like minutes. He knew he should look at the bright side of things but he couldn’t. His insecurities about not being able to have his parents proud of him stopped any progress. He hadn’t even talked to Pidge and Hunk since then either. And Hunk was going through the same things he was.

“Lance.” He looked up to see Allura standing over him, her face filled with pity. He turned away, not wanting to see it. He felt her sit next to him. “I’ve never really seen my father look at me in disappointment before. But when I told him that I never told either you or Hunk about the pool, I saw it for a split second. And then hearing how it felt to be with your family…”

“I don’t want pity.”

“And I’m not giving it to you. I’m trying to fix my mistake as best as I can. I can’t make you fully human again, but I can show you how to live your life without giving things up.”

“How the hell am I supposed to that? I can’t surf anymore, and I can’t exactly do life guarding either.”

“No, but you can surround yourself with animals you can understand. Come on.” Grabbing his arm, Allura pulled a protesting Lance into the park. She took him to the dolphin pool where a man was standing on one of the decks in front of the trick practise pools. “Rick.” The man turned and waved at Allura.

“What are we doing?”

“I’m getting you a job here.”

“What? What for?” Lance asked surprised

“If you want to be upset with what you got from this, that’s fine. But you’d lose the chance to understand these amazing creatures. Dolphins have always like mermaids. I’m sure people are going to ask questions when you tell them you’re giving up water sports. I’m sure working here can soften the blow because it’s not like you’re giving up on water completely.”

“Uh, not like I can. I live in a beach town.” Lance sassed, but he had to agree. Working at the marine park would be pretty good. He did like coming here with his family and his family already thought that whatever happened on the Island pushed him away from water forever.

“Hey Allura. Good to see you. This the guy?”

“Yep. Lance this is Rick. My father worked with him when he was doing research on sea creatures and their relationship with humans. He mentioned that they needed someone to bring out the fish to feed the dolphins during the shows.”

“It’s Lance right? Lance McClain?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I heard that you weren’t doing anything near water. You think you could do this job?”

_‘So word’s gotten out already. I only turned my lifeguard things only 2 days ago.’_

“I don’t want water to scare me forever. I can do it.”

“Alright. I’ll go get an application form.” Rick left to head to the offices, leaving the two alone.

“So, you think I can even learn anything doing this?”

“I think you can learn to appreciate it. I know you don’t forgive me and that’s fine. Because I didn’t tell you anything, you trying to do a good thing gave you this. But I don’t your anger keep you from enjoying it, just a little. Hunk is going to need your help and he is really worried about you. Plus the added powers.”

“Yeah, I froze a glass of juice when I accidentally knocked it off my desk and then there’s the fact that I made the facet in the kitchen somehow explode when my older brother wouldn’t get off my back about giving up surfing. What the hell?”

“Remember when I first really meet you? I used my power of fire to evaporate the water from my tail. I have many more powers and so do you. From what I’ve learned from Hunk, you have all the powers that a normal merman would have. You’re going to need to learn how to control them and I’ll be helping you.”

Allura was right. He wasn’t ready to forgive her, but he had to admire her instance to still help.

_‘This is gonna be hard to adjust to. But she’s right. Hunk’s been alone in this while I’ve been feeling sorry for myself. I don’t know if I’ll ever get use to this but I’ll try to. I’m not going to let this rule my life. I’ll deal with my parents later and if what I think is true, I’ll deal with it then. There’s nothing I can do now. But I’ll have to deal with it soon, just not now.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I’m sure this isn’t the best chapter, but I needed the event to happen and for you to see how Lance dealt with it. Shiro and Keith finally come in the next chapter. I don’t think it’ll be as long as this one. If anyone wants to be a beta writer for this story, message me on my Tumblr, sasuhinasno1fan


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2 years have passed and things have changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO thank you to those who left comments and kudos or even subscribed to the story. I had finals and then I was working on OTP weeks as well as secret Santa things, so this got pushed to the back burner. Sorry if this is shorter than the last ones, but like I said, I wanted to get the basics out of the way and in two chapters, but the good thing is, today, we meet Shiro and Keith. So I hope you enjoy.

Lance walked down to the dolphin pools, where he was greeted enthusiastically by one.

“Hey Blue. Miss me?” he couldn’t help but laugh at her squeaking. Allura was right, dolphins were amazing creatures. It had been 2 years since he gained a tail with the drop of water. Adjusting had been hard, having to give up the name of Water Angel, but comparing it to what he had now, it was hard to be too mad. He did still miss the excitement that he got from it and how much confidence he gained from it but he pushed through it. Hunk was suffering on how to explain to his parents and honestly, that mattered more than his name.

He learned how to control the array of powers he now had at his disposal, learned so much about mermaid history and basically learned how to avoid water without looking like a weirdo. Things were fine, for the most part. There had been that one scare but he didn’t like thinking about it.

He still worked at the marine park, but had been upgraded to working at the ice cream cart eventually. That didn’t mean he still didn’t visit the dolphins to feed them whenever he could. He looked around but didn’t see the fish bucker anywhere.

“Aww, looks like there aren’t any treats out. How about I play catch with you instead?” Seeming to understand, Blue swam over to where an orange football floated near the separation gate. Lance dodged the wet ball as it was thrown on the doc. He was just glad he took to wearing sneakers to work now, and the water resistant kind. He had his towel in his bag as well, so he wasn’t quiet as worried. Nudging it with his foot, he got the ball to sit on the tip of his toe, before flinging it back to the pool, where Blue swam quickly after it.

“I see she still likes you.” Lance turned his head to see the head dolphin trainer, Thace. He was of Asian descent, with black hair and sideburns, and his wet suit clung tightly to his broad shoulders. “Nice to see she hasn’t forgotten a friendly face.”

“I should hope not, I am the one who figured out why she wasn’t eating all that time ago.” Lance once again dodged the incoming ball, letting most of the water drip off, before getting it on his toe again and throwing it back.

“I’d be impressed if you could connect with Red.” Thace said, nodding to the other pool where another dolphin was swimming around.

“Has she not been getting close to anyone?”

“She likes Blue, and she’s actually copied a few of the tricks she’s seen Blue do, but she can be pretty stubborn when we’re trying to teach her. She’ll listen eventually, but only when we’re about to send her back to her pool, like she knows what we’re trying to teach her and won’t do it until the end, like to say “I know what I’m doing”.”

“Sounds like she can be a brat.”

Thace shrugged, “can’t argue with you there. But I think she can do pair tricks with Blue. We’ve tried a couple and they did well together.”

“It would be cool to try and teach that. Woah!” lance ducked out of the way when the ball came to high, but Thace grabbed it as it soared over Lance’s head, not saying anything as Lance franticly touched his head to see if there was any water. He let out a sigh and sent Thace an awkward smile.

Thankfully, Thace didn’t say anything. Everyone seemed to be used to Lance’s odd behaviour around water. “Would you like the chance to train dolphins and even do shows?”

Lance shrugged, “I mean, yeah. I may not go into water anymore but the dolphin shows have always been my favourite thing. I think my mom told me that when I was younger, I’d get my toys to be the dolphins? I don’t know, it’d be pretty cool.”

Thace threw the ball for Blue to catch. “Well, we do have a new opening for a dolphin trainer. Wanna turn in your ice cream man uniform for a wet suit? Or I guess in your case, the trainer uniform, but it looks like a wet suit so…” he must have noticed Lance staring at him so he trailed off.

“Wait, are you serious? Really? I could be a dolphin trainer and be in the shows?”

“Yeah, we won’t ask you to be in the water if that’s what you want. We have enough trainers in the water during shows. But if you want, I can talk to the marine manager and see what she says.”

Lance let out a squeal and started jumping up and down in place. A dolphin trainer, him. Sure it was risky, but he was good at dodging water and Blue knew what he was and seemed to not try and splash him. Besides, this was his dream. “Yes, yes, yes! I’ll do it. Definitely. Oh, I’m going to be a dolphin trainer.”

“Easy, that’s if she approves.”

“Yeah, of course. Oh my god, I have to tell the others.” Lance ran up the stairs that lead from the deck before spinning around, “when do you think you’ll know if it’s approved?”

“Next week maybe.”

“Ok, awesome. I’ll see you later. Bye Blue!” he called over his shoulder, running off back out to the main area of the park and out the exits. He had to tell his friends.

Forgiving Allura eventually came, when he felt like it was right. He honestly thought that Allura would be willing to take him never forgiving her for a long time. But even he knew he’d have to get over his anger and forgive her. The past 2 years, she, Pidge and Hunk had adventures in hiding their secret. Allura was always overly cautious of anything water related and Pidge brought science into it, trying to figure out how their bodies and powers could react to different things. Honestly, it was thanks to her that he was able to adjust his moisturizer and creams so it wouldn’t trigger a transformation at the most unwanted times. They had survived a lot together and became much closer as a result. He even learned to appreciate Voltron Island more.

After what felt like forever, he finally reached Lion’s Castle and burst in through the door, well as much as a curtain of beads could be a door. But he did almost knock down Matt on his way in. After Matt had healed up, he decided to leave the company, after they had been shut down for negligence in ignoring warnings that other workers on the project had given them. Now Matt worked as a freelancer engineer, allowing himself to be hired by the right type of people, those who passed Pidge’s safety guarantee test. Around that time, Lion’s Castle needed a new manager and Matt offered his services. Before he knew it, the owner sold it to Matt and on top of being an engineer for hire, he now owned one of the most popular seaside cafes in the whole town. Pidge helped him behind the scenes whenever she could, Coran himself offering his services, since he really didn’t have a job, other than help Alfor every now and then.

“Sorry Matt.”

“That’s fine. Just please be careful, for the 4th time in a row.” Matt said, heading to the bar, where Pidge was sitting on a bar stool, on her laptop.

“Pidge! Pidge, Pidge, Pidge, Pidge! Guess what, guess what?” Lance ran over to the 16 year old girl, shaking her shoulder.

Looking annoyed, Pidge yanked away, “what is it?”

“Ok, so I was visiting Blue like I usually do after my shift. Wait, I need to tell everyone at the same time. Where’s Allura and Hunk?”

“Well Allura is currently regretting everything.” Pidge pointed over to Allura who sat at a table in front of the small stage, watching a man play the drums very badly. “While Matt did hire her to sing at the café, he left her in charge of getting the band together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her suffer so much in such little time. I don’t know whether or not I’m enjoying this.”

“You are a horrible person.”

“Your point? Don’t worry, Hunk’s supposed to be here in a little bit, so we’ll pull her from her misery soon enough.”

Allura looked just about relieved when Lance pulled her away from a very old dude playing guitar.

“Pidge, I thought you said your brother was organized. Why am I sent all the people who don’t know what they’re doing?”

“Well, he insisted on picking people who wouldn’t have scheduling problems since, you know, you don’t go to school.”

“Ok, while talking about Allura’s problems is amazing, I really need to tell you this.” While Allura looked annoyed, Hunk and Pidge look interested. “Ok, so I go and see Blue, like I usually do and Thace is there and guess what. He offered me a job as a dolphin trainer. If the manager approves, I can teach tricks to Blue and perform in shows.”

“Wow, Lance, you’ve wanted to do that since you’ve been a kid.” Hunk said, looking genuinely happy.

“Honestly, with how well you get along with Blue, I’m surprised it took you this long to be offered a job.” Pidge said.

“Lance didn’t have the knowledge of water that he does now. Lance, are you sure you can do this? I know it sounds amazing, but it is a huge risk.” Allura pointed out.

“I know, I know. But I’m good at being cautious. And Thace already told me that I won’t have to go in the water. I can do this and I really want to.”

Allura looked at him before gaining a small smile on her face. “Well, if you get the job, tell us when you’ll be joining the team for performances.”

“That is a big if though.” Pidge pointed out.

“There is nothing you can say to annoy me now Pidgioto. Hey, how about we get something to eat since we can’t celebrate tonight.”

“Oh, right. Lance.” Pidge’s attitude changed, as she cosied up to Lance, looking innocent. Lance was not fooled.

“What?” Lance asked suspiciously.

“so you know how tonight’s a full moon and one of us has to watch the Moon Pool to avoid you know, _that_ situation again?”

“Yeah?”

“And you know how it’s my turn tonight right? Well, there might be this little commitment I have to go to that involves Takeshi Shirogane.”

Lance stared at her. “Takeshi Shirogane? _The_ Takeshi Shirogane?”

“The free diving champion?” Hunk asked, looking just as surprised.

“He’s friends with Matt. Matt was the one who commissioned his arm.”

“I’m sorry,” Allura cut in, “who is Takeshi?”

“Takeshi Shirogane, or Shiro as everyone calls him, is a free diver. He lived here and had beaten the record for going down the deepest. Unfortunately, he got into a boating accident that cost him his left arm. It was right after he was award the certificate for the record and the association behind it offered to help fund him getting a prosthetic. Matt was able to help commission a waterproof metal arm.” Hunk explained

“After that, he and his family moved out of Arus back to Japan since Shiro stopped free diving. I think Matt told me he gained the courage to go back in the water again but doesn’t really free diving anymore.” Pidge continued.

“Waterproof metal?”

“It looks metal; I never really looked at the specs of it all. But yeah, it’s a permeant prosthetic and waterproof. Shiro is moving back into town, with his adopted brother, and Matt and I are going to meet him for dinner, if Lance can take my place?”

Shiro was pretty popular. He never really got the chance to meet him, but when he had been interested in free diving, Shiro was his hero. It was seeing Shiro not let the popularity go to his head, that made Lance decide to do the same with the Water Angel.

Lance sighed, “Alright fine. But you so owe me. Now I just need an excuse to tell my mom so I don’t get in trouble.”

“Tell her you’re with me.” Allura said, “Say my father wanted you to help him study more fish.”

* * *

 

Matt was wiping down the last set of tables, Pidge washing dishes behind the counter.

“I’ll be done soon, and then we can go see Shiro. He told me about his brother. I think you’d like him, he’s a bit of a conspiracy theorist.”

“Cool.” Pidge answered, putting the last of the dishes on the rack and muttered, “as long as he stays away from the mermaid lore, I think we’ll be fine.” Out loud she asked, “So, anything else?”

“Well,” Matt thought, “Shiro was able to teach him how to free dive. His brother took to the water like fish and is always in the water. Shiro says he has to make sure that his brother doesn’t disappear into the ocean when they get here.”

“Did he get one of those seaside houses?”

“Seems like it.” Matt looked up when he heard the beads part, the message of not being open on his lips when he saw who had walked through. The man was tall, a scar noticeable on his nose and his black hair cropped short, except for the white fringe that fell in his face. His left hand was tucked into his hoodie pocket, his other hand held up in greeting.

“Hey.”

Pidge ran out from behind the counter and launched herself at the man. “Shiro!”

Shiro stumbled, wrapping both arms around Pidge. “Hey there. Gosh, Katy is that you? Last time I saw you, your parents were letting you grow out your hair. I didn’t think you’d cut it.” Matt at that time had approached his best friend as Shiro put Pidge down and looked at both of them. “And the two of you look more like each other than usual. Am I going to have to worry about having to be an alibi for one person while the other gets into trouble?”

Pidge scoffed, “oh please. This one doesn’t do anything fun that involves trouble.”

“And since when does creating programs that can hack into labs, fun?”

“It was just the one you worked for, it’s not that bad.”

“That’s not the point!” Shiro watched Matt scowled his sister, trying to keep a straight face, as Pidge didn’t even look bothered. “And what about those weird science experiments?”

“Ok, for the last time, if you don’t want to get sick again, stop poking around my room.”

Shiro let out a burst of muffled laughter. “We might have been younger, but you guys still act the same.”

“It’s good to see you.” Matt finally gave Shiro a hug, squeezing tight. “I’m surprised your back here though.”

“Well, Keith wanted to actually come to the place where I learned free diving, plus Arus University is actually the choice he has for his major, so it just worked out.”

“Keith? That’s your brother?” Pidge asked.

Shiro nodded. “Yep. Right before we moved out, we adopted him and he grew up with us in Japan. He’s a bit rough on the edges and it takes him a while to get use to strangers, but he’s a nice guy really, once you get to know him. Unfortunately, he’s fallen more in love with the water than I thought.”

“What, he’s free diving now?”

“Exploring the ocean, yeah. He did say he was interested in checking out Voltron Island.”

“He’s going to swim all the way there?” Pidge asked surprised.

Shiro just shrugged, “I can. And like I said, he’s in love with the water. I told him to take the boat though and then just swim around the Island.”

While Matt and Shiro talk more about Keith, Pidge pulls out her phone. She and Hunk had been able to set up a small wireless spot inside the Moon Pool so sending online messages could work. Working around the magic of the pool was interesting but she it was times like these, she was thankful they had found a way.

Lance, heads up. Shiro just told us his brother is heading to check the Island. Remember, if he finds the pool, he can’t be in it when the moon rises. I’ve already got scientific reasons for the water rumbling, just remember, he can’t be in the pool

Seconds later, Lance responded. I’ll keep my eye out. Hopefully we’ll be lucky and he avoid it all costs.

 _‘I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that won’t happen.’_ Pidge thought.

“Katy,” Pidge looked up to where Matt and Shiro stood by the door that slid in front of the bead doors for closing. “Shiro’s making us food at his place. If we’re lucky, Keith will feel guilty and come back early.”

Pidge gave a week smile. She really hoped that was the case.

* * *

 

Lance tried not to worry. There had been one other person to be changed by the Pool and it didn’t turn out good, but they had taken care of that. That’s why they took turns watching the Pool during the full moon, to avoid incidents like that again. He didn’t wish the sudden change in life on anyone. He looked at his phone for the moon rise countdown. They had been able to time an estimated amount of time the moon would take to full reach right over the pool. 20 minutes. Depending when this guy left, it would still take him a while to reach the Island and then he would also have to beach the boat before going in, unless he was just going to anchor it then go in. he just hoped that this guy got here, looked around and then left.

Lance looked around the cave. Different shells and sea items were spread throughout from whenever they found things they didn’t want to bring home. He and Hunk had gotten pretty good at making jewellery out of the different shells and sand dollars they found, bracelets and headbands mostly and a few clips Allura taught them to make. They rested on flat rocks when they didn’t want to take what they wanted back. The wireless spot was in a far corner away from the water of the pool and the wall waterfall.

That was another thing. The waterfall. Pidge had been so interested in it when they first landed in the pool. Whenever the full moon happened and the moon was directly overhead, it would glow, but nothing more than that. Out of everything in the cave, that was the thing that interested Pidge the most. Allura herself wasn’t sure how it got there, it just appeared one day, according to her fathers. Lance looked back at his phone. 15 minutes. He groaned, at this rate, he’d lose his mind in anticipation.

Time seemed to pass slowly. He played games on his phone, not wanting to play videos and get distracted. He did get more and more nervous as the time the moon would be over the pool grew shorter and shorter, but tried to play it off with no one being there. Maybe he could get off easy tonight. But honestly, Lance was really starting to think he should avoid thinking that.

The pool was empty when Lance spotted a dark figure coming through the sea entrance.

“Shit!” Lance bounded up, grabbing his bag and going through the cave entrance hiding himself. He peeked around the edge to watch hands grab the edge of the pool, before a head followed. It was a guy, looking about Lance’s age. His black hair was pressed to his face because of the water and the goggles he had on. Lance watched him pull them off before pulling himself out, trying not to get flustered at the sight of the guy’s defined body. Lance himself had muscle from all the swimming but this guy was different. His abs were more defined and drool worthy with the water making him shine and his arms looked strong. He looked pale but was still a healthy tone. Lance couldn’t make out the colour of his eyes, either grey or black or, purple? It didn’t matter, this guy was good looking, even though now that he looked at it, he was pretty sure the guy had a mullet. He seemed to be very interested in the cave as he looked around, his face full of fascination. He watched him pick up the different shells and rocks they had found and seemed very interest in one of the nearby bracelets. Lance glanced at his phone, the moon was going to be right over soon. He tried to calm down. If this guy wanted to touch the water, Lance would freeze it. If he started asking questions around town, he’d try and catch him first and give him Pidge’s excuse. He tensed a bit as the guy got closer to the entrance when it happened. The pool started to glow and the water started to bubble. That got his attention. And that wasn’t the only thing.

The waterfall, instead of it glowing, more water started pouring out as it became a more realistic waterfall. The guy wouldn’t stop staring at it, and neither could Lance. The waterfall never did that before. The water never hit the floor but instead, shot around the black haired teen and into the pool. It stopped and moments later, a tendril of water rose from the pool, carrying the same glow the pool had. This never happened before. The guy looked so mystified and got closer to the pool and reached out to touch the snake of water. It took everything in Lance to not yell, tell him not to touch it. Something wasn’t right about that water and he should be careful. God, he wished he said something because the water moved quickly and hit the guy, who flew back and hit his head on one of the walls before he fell heavily to the floor. Lance moved from the entrance and tried to get to him but felt something grab his ankle and pull. The water, that weird snake looking thing, was dragging him into the pool. He was pulled underwater and felt a familiar tingle of his body being changed. The tendril of water started to wrap around him, holding his tail in place and almost pinning his arms down before wrapping around his mouth and nose.

Lance started to struggle, feeling his breath being cut short. He was so sure back when this was all new to him, that mermaid’s had gills. Alfor corrected him by saying the mermaids were believed to have evolved into humans, so their body biology was similar to a humans; it was sirens that had gills. Hunk decided to ask if it was possible for mer folk to actually drown under water.

“It’s possible. But our tails are very strong and we even have out powers at out disposal. But water is our friend, I don’t think we’d actually drown in it unless attacked.”

 _‘Yeah, well what if it’s our dear old friend water who was trying drown you?’_ Lance tried to stop panicking at the lost air and focused. He thought about heating the water and put his hands on water part of the tendril it could get to. Before he knew it the water started boiling and began to split apart. Lance could move his tail and swam back to the surface, pulling himself out of the water. He looked up, and saw the moon just starting to move away. He did feel the tendril grab him again but as the power of the moon pool started to wane, so did the grip. Eventually the pool stopped glowing and bubbling and he couldn’t feel anything grab his tail. Lance pulled himself out completely and looked back at the pool. “What the hell just happened?”

* * *

 

Lance watched the guy, or Keith as Pidge had helpfully told him over text when he told her what had happened, start to come to. After Lance had turned back into a human and he was sure no more weird things were going to happen, he went to check on Keith. There was no blood, but he did have a nasty bump and then there was the possibility of a concussion. He watched as Keith’s eyes fluttered and he let out a groan.

“What?” His words were slightly slurred.

“Hey, dude, you ok? Can you hear me?”

Keith let out another groan, putting his hand to his head and tried pushing himself up.

“Whoa, easy. You hit you head really hard, you might have a concussion. If you have to get up, get up really slow.”

Keith didn’t move but he did open his eyes a bit. Purple, Keith had purple eyes. “Who are you?”

“Oh, me? I’m Lance and you are?”

Keith didn’t answer but he did move, starting to get up. Lance watched Keith look at the waterfall, which was now back in its usual small pool scene and then at the moon pool, which was now still, the waves barely disturbing it.

“The pool…”

“Yeah?”

But Keith didn’t answer him. To be honest, he kinda had been ignoring him. Lance was getting annoyed about that. He saved this guy and so far no thank you. But Keith did get hit in the head, so Lance reined back his annoyance. Then Keith got up and picked up his goggled from where they had fallen.

“Uh, going somewhere?”

“I’m getting out of here.”

Lance got up and followed him, “wait a minute, you have a huge bump on the back of your head, you shouldn’t be swimming.”

“I need to get back.” Keith stepped onto the step and pulled his goggles one. “Shouldn’t you be leaving?”

“I’d feel better leaving after I knew you were ok. Plus you haven’t said something to me.”

Keith looked at him before shrugging and diving into the water. Lance jumped back away from the arch of water and watched the spot of Keith disappear. Lance stood their stunned.

“I don’t believe it. He didn’t even say thank you.” Lance wanted to scream. Honestly if he hadn’t been there, Keith could still be unconscious right about then. Right, Keith was still hurt. “And I have to make sure he’s ok.” Lance left his bag in the corner, only grabbing the water proof bag for his phone, before diving in and swimming out. Not wanting to risk Keith seeing him, Lance stayed and looked a boat. Pidge had said Shiro got Keith to promise to take the boat out and back. Last thing he wanted was for Keith to try and drive the boat with his head still woozy. Lance saw the boat just as it was pulling out.

 _‘So he got there ok. That’s good.’_ He continued to follow the boat as he headed back inland. He watched it as it took the route to the cheaper beach houses. The houses were literally a large shack, big enough for a bed and a small kitchen, last time Lance saw one anyway. Lance stayed close to the posts of the deck as the boat docked and Lance could hear footsteps over him. When they moved away, Lance took the chance and poked above water.

“Keith, you’re back. I thought you would have been back earlier.” An older voice, Shiro he guessed, spoke.

“I hit my head and was blacked out for a bit.” Keith sounded so nonchalant about it that Lance approved when Shiro spoke again in a startled voice.

“You hit your head, and you dove back into water? What were you thinking? Keith you could have a concussion.”

“Yeah, I know. The guy there already told me I might have one.”

“Guy? What guy?”

“Some dopy looking guy.” Dopy looking? Lance felt his eyes narrow.

“Wait, Lance? Tall, tan skin, blue eyes?” that was Pidge.

“Yeah? You know him? Who are you by the way?” God, this guy was so rude and curt. Lance didn’t want to hear anymore, Pidge could fill him in later. Plus, he was going to have to fill the other in later too. Water attacked him and then tried to kill him. Something was going on and Lance didn’t like it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So last time this story was updated, which was because I was working on my submissions for the General Voltron Big Bang, we meet Shiro and Keith, Keith called Lance dopy, after Lance tried to help him when the moon pool attacked him, not before Lance was attacked himself by the moon pool. I’m glad someone said they got scared for Lance when that happened. I feel like I did something right. Enjoy.

Lance turned on the couch in Allura’s house, unable to go to sleep. He came over since he didn’t feel safe going back to the pool by himself. Water, something that had been his friend since he was practically a baby, attacked him. Drowning wasn’t something he experienced often. To say he hadn’t almost done it a few times was stupid; everyone had those times of panic. But he never felt the fear so close like he did when the water wrapped around him, trying to drown him. Something that was supposed to be his friend, even more now that he was considered its child, almost killed him.

Letting out a huff, Lance threw off the comforter Allura lent him and walked to the kitchen, walking into the butler’s pantry for hot chocolate mix, pulling a jar of marshmallows off as well. He put them on the island and went to a cupboard when he heard someone say his name. He jolted, letting out a screech and swung around to see Alfor, holding out his hands in an ‘I surrender’ motion.

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you would have been asleep.”

Hand against his heart, Lance let out a breath, “not really. You scared the crap out of me. Why are you still up?”

“Working on a paper. Honestly though, I thought everyone was asleep. I also thought you’d be with Allura.” The house that Allura’s parents lived in had a separate building that might have been a shed of some sort at one time, but they converted it to a bedroom for Allura. It was the closest thing to the dock so Allura could dive in, unless going in another way that her father had. It was easy for the group to hang out without disturbing Alfor while he was working.

“She was in here when I got here. She was tired so I told her I’d just sleep on the couch.”

“Not tired?”

Lance shook his head. “Not really.”

“Does it have anything to do with you not staying at the moon pool tonight? I know the danger has passed with the full moon not hanging over it, but you kids tend to stay the whole night.”

“Yeah, sleeping like mermaids do, propped up against the edge of the pool is actually more comfortable that you’d think.” Lance knew he was dodging the question. He hadn’t told Allura what happened yet, just that he stopped Keith from touching the water and all the danger had passed. Ugg, Keith. If the pool attacking him was one thing, Keith was another. He was rude, crass and a bit of a jerk and Lance only knew him for a little while. He knew Pidge was friends with Shiro, Keith’s brother, but Lance honestly hoped he never had to see that guy’s face again.

Alfor could see that Lance didn’t want to talk about happened, so he offered to make them both hot chocolate instead. “Anything else exciting happening with you? I heard Allura mention something about a new job?” he asked, pour milk into a small pot and putting it to warm up on the stove.

“Yeah. Thace offered me a job as a dolphin trainer, but I’ve got to wait till next week to find out if I have the job. It’s exciting though, I really hope I get it.”

“I’m sure you will. Does it give you any thought to what you want to do after you graduate?”

Oh the question everyone had been asking. It was his senior year, applications were a thing. College was a thing. Furthering his life was a thing. A thing that Lance was scared of. He wasn’t even sure about what he was going to do with his life. Marine biologist had been a thing he wanted to do but he had a tail now, the thought of still doing that was a bit fleeting. It was a constant question since last year, when colleges came down to visit the school and talk to them, ‘What can I even do?’.

Lance shrugged, “I don’t know. Haven’t given it too much thought.”

Alfor could see Lance didn’t want to talk more about it and left it alone. Instead, he told Lance more about his paper. It sounded interesting and kept his mind off of what he was going to have to tell the group tomorrow. God, he just hoped the believed him.

* * *

 

“What?” Allura asked, just as stunned as everyone in the room stared at Lance. “You must be joking.”

“Oh, do I wish I was.” Lance said

Looking anxious, Hunk spouted out, “but, but, but, the pool couldn’t do that before. What if it starts attacking us whenever we go there? What if the pool isn’t safe anymore? What if-”

“Hunk, calm down.” Pidge started, pulling a long sheet of bubble wrap. When getting anxious or nervous, Hunk tended to play with his hands, so Lance, Pidge and Allura tended to have something to give him. The last time they didn’t, he started picking at a hangnail and almost made it worse. “From what it sounds like, it happened because of the full moon. I didn’t think it would affect the waterfall as well, I mean it never did before.”

“No, it hasn’t and it doesn’t sound very good. You said a human almost touched it?” Alfor asked.

Lance nodded, “yeah, his name’s Keith. I don’t really know him since he’s Shiro’s brother and they just moved back yesterday, but he got really hurt. Oh by the way, who does he think he’s calling dopy?” Lance complained, crossing his arms and almost pouting.

“Usually, this is where I insert a snarky comment, but the guy did have a concussion and you had a stressful night, so I’ll refrain.” Pidge said, Lance giving her a fake thankful smile. He knew she could of well given that comment, but he was not about to complain about it. “He didn’t say much about what happened to him, just that he slipped and knocked out. He did ask a bit about the lore behind it, but I took control of that conversation so we’re ok unless he goes investigating but he’s recovering from a concussion, so we might be ok.”

“I just don’t understand how that happened.” Allura thought out loud, looking questioning.

“Well it happened.” Lance pulled up his jean leg and showed the bruised ring around his ankle from the tentacle of water. He hadn’t noticed it until this morning, the bruise devolving overnight most likely. “Trust me, the time and effort I’m gonna take to hide this from my parents proves it happened.”

“I think this is all the more reason for us to go and check. Pidge, call and make sure Keith won’t be anywhere near there then take our boat out to the island. We’ll head over to the pool.” Alfor instructed, standing up. While Pidge stayed and pulled out her phone, Alfor lead the rest of the group to his office. It was a good size office, for his desk, the bookshelves and the table with different equipment if tests ever needed to be done.

Walking behind his desk to the bookcase there, Alfor pulled the top of a book down. The book had a yellow spine with a mermaid fin and a v shaped mark in the middle of the fin printed in gold. With a click, the book case swung back revealing a hallway. Down the hallway lead to a fork, the left side having the glowing marks of water nearby as its reflection played on the walls. The group walked to the right were it opened into a large room. There were winding metal steps that lead into the large area covered in what could be describe as the mermaid’s horde. There were couches and chairs but almost every surface was covered in different boxes, chests, books, bottles and so many other things. Staying on the top level and continuing down lead into the area that was on the left side of the fork.

“What are you getting?” Allura asked as her father walked down and opened a chest.

“Some empty jars so Pidge can get samples. As well as moon stones.”

“What are moon stones?” Hunk asked, not fiddling with his sheet of bubble wrap as much. “It sounds kinda familiar.”

“They’re stones that act as a boost in the pool. They hold the same power that the pool. Many pods made them into rings for the mermaids to have as mermen tend to be a bit more powerful and don’t need the boost, though I can say with most certainty that there is still a chance of getting your butts kicked if you come across a mermaid with a moon ring.”

“Why need it when you’ve got Allura?” Lance joked.

Pidge came running in, “we’re good. Shiro’s keeping an eye on Keith and Matt even said he’d help. We’re clear to go to the island.”

“Perfect. Here.” Alfor handed her the jars, one holding a few misshaped blue crystals. “Use these for samples. Those are moon stones, they mimic the power of the full moon, but we’ll do that test together ok?”

“Right. You guys go ahead, I’ll meet you there.”

With Pidge heading back upstairs, they all went to the other room, where a pool, similar to the moon pool sat. It led into the ocean just the same way the moon pool did.

“How about a race?” Lance asked, right before diving into the water, already swimming off.

“Now just a second there!” Coran yelled as he dived in after him.

Allura sighed at the sight of utter childishness both Lance and her father could get up to. It’s probably half the reason Lance was pretty much Coran’s favourite. “Come on, let’s go after them.

* * *

 

Pidge yelped as she hit the bottom in the small chamber that lead into the moon pool on Voltron Island. “Ow, there has got to be a better way of getting down.” While she did attach a rope to climb back up, it was no fun going down. As she walked to the archway, she peeked in her bag to make sure none of the jars were broken, but everything was good. Getting into the area with the pool, she saw Allura, Hunk and Coran still in the pool, watching Lance and Alfor talk in front of the waterfall. “Alright, so what happened?”

Lance sighed and explained the whole story about the night before again. He used his power over controlling water to show what the tendril looked like, even loosely wrapping it around Hunk to show what it did to him.

“All that from the moon pool?” Coran asked

“And the waterfall. Water from that went into the pool and that’s when the tendril appeared.”

Looking thoughtful, Alfor nodded. “This has never happened before, nor do I remember anything like this happening in other moon pools we’ve visited. I don’t like this. Alright, Pidge, get samples from both the moon pool and the waterfall, one with a moon stone and another without. Also get one with both waters ok?”

Giving a salute, Pidge pulled off her bag and got to work. Lance went to where he had left his bag and checked to make sure everything was there. He freaked out for a moment, thinking his cell phone was missing only to remember that it was still at Allura’s house.

“So, did Keith ask anything about what happened last night? I know you said he gave the excuse of slipping but did he mention the pool?” Lance asked, resting his bag next to Pidge’s as she collected water from the waterfall.

“He did ask a bit about the island. I gave him my best stories about it but nothing about the moon pool.”

“Do you think he might come back?” Hunk asked, resting his head on the edge of the pool. “It did attack him I mean. If he didn’t ask about it, maybe he wants to figure it out on his own?”

Closing the jar in her hand, Pidge shrugged. She wasn’t sure herself. She had no gage on how Keith worked as a person so she had no clue how he was going to react to things. She hoped that with his concussion, Shiro would keep a leash on him, but god knows how long that could last. “I mean it’s a possibility. We can only hope he doesn’t get interested.” She got Allura to control some of the moon pool water into the half-filled waterfall water. “Did you want me to add the moon stone to this one?”

Alfor nodded and Pidge dropped the stone in the water. She was capping it when the water started to glow the way it did during a full moon. The water was rumbling inside of it before it expanded and exploded the jar. It surprised everyone, making them jump and even let out a scream.

“Ow, ow, ow.” Pidge yelped, holding her wrist as she looked at the shard of glass in her hand. It wasn’t big but it looked a bit deep.

Running over to her, Lance kept her still, holding her wrist still. “Pidge are you ok?”

“No, it really hurts.”

“Alright, let’s get that shard out and wrap it up. You might need to get stiches if it’s that bad. Coran.”

As Coran pulled himself out of the pool Allura turned to Hunk. “You say that right? The water glowed just like it did during a full moon.”

“And it expanded by itself. Lance was right. Something’s wrong with the waterfall and if that’s what happened during a full moon, then whoever is here during then is in big trouble.” Hunk added on, looking over to where the two adults and Lance were surrounding Pidge. Being turned into a merman was scary but he learned to deal with it. This, this was going to take a while to get used to. If the pool didn’t try to attack them first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I know it’s short but I want to work more on my Big Bang submission. This is just to tide you over till I have more time. College will always be a thing and a hard one to. So I’ll hopefully see you soon and those of you who have read my klanro/shklance story It’s easier in the movies, hoping I can update that one soon as well. Also look out for my fluff week submissions in April. Come talk to me on my tumblr, [sasuhinasno1fan](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sasuhinasno1fan)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So….it’s been a while. Umm, klance week, shance fluff week, finals, dropping out of the General Big Bang, and working takes up a lot of time. There are other writing events I’ve signed up for or am planning but I am going to do my best not to shove this to the side. I guess I’m lucky with Lotor’s generals being introduced before this chapter came out. They have said they 7 episode season was so the next one can come out soon after but hopefully any new characters they introduce in that one, I can fit them in this. So finally, we get to see Keith again and we meet Shiro again as well. Enjoy

Lance walked down the steps to reach the ground floor where his locker was located. The rest of Sunday had passed quickly, with Alfor and Coran taking Pidge to get her hand looked at, and him, Hunk and Allura went back to the house to drop off the vails. Allura wanted to do more experiments but her father ordered her not to until he was there. Lance didn’t end up sticking around with a shift coming up and Allura never gave him a call, so he knew he’d have to wait until he either visited the café or he went over to the house to get answers.

He found Pidge kneeling at her locker, shoving books, trying to stop other stuff from falling out. He did notice her hand was bandaged.

“Hey gremlin.”

“String bean.” Pidge replied finally fitting everything in and slamming the locker closed. “Did Allura call? Alfor was constantly checking to make sure she didn’t try anything.”

“I stayed to keep her away from the stuff, but only until I had to go to work. But no, she hasn’t called.”

“Guess we got to wait until later, but if she didn’t call, maybe nothing happened. Oh, speaking of, Shiro said Keith starts school today.”

He hadn’t even thought about that guy with everything that happened but now that he was on his mind, he was, well apprehensive. Last time he saw they guy he was a bit of an ass but he was suffering from a concussion. He just hoped he was in a better mood this time.

“Oh god, it’s Lotor.” Pidge moaned looking around Lance. “I heard he was off at his family’s vacation home. How much you want to bet he’s going to bragging about it?”

“Is the sea salty? Where’s Hunk?” Lance asked, dismissing Lotor immediately

“Family meeting, for you know.” Pidge answered, as the two walked over to the benches near the arch ways that lead to the lawn that other students were relaxing on waiting for classes to start.

“I still can’t believe Hunk’s parents are getting divorced.” Lance said. It was surprising news to hear. Apparently, despite what their kids saw, their relationship wasn’t working out. It wasn’t arguments, just unhappiness that they didn’t want to live with. After the separation was finalized, Hunk’s mother planned on moving back to Hawaii. Hunk wanted his parents to be happy and according to him, his parents were still good friends and it would give him more reason to go visit Hawaii, other than his next traditional tattoo session.

“The really weird part is that it’s almost finalized and Mari still isn’t taking it well.”

“I guess this whole moon pool thing is not what Hunk needs along with his family issues.” Lance said, poking at Pidge’s bandaged hand, “how is it anyway?”

“Not as deep as they thought and by the time we got to the hospital it stopped bleeding. It didn’t need stiches. Thankfully Alfor said that I was helping him in his lab so my parents didn’t get upset.”

“I’m here! I’m here.” Hunk said, running across the lawn. “My mom drove me over and we had a long talk in the car.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Pidge asked.

Hunk shook his head. “Not really, after the morning I had, I need something to distract me.”

“Here’s something.” Lance said, noticing a familiar head walking from the principal’s office. Keith was taking his first steps amongst his schoolmates and Lotor had taken notice of him. “I really hope he’s just as much as an ass to Lotor like he was to me, hopefully worse.”

Keith was looking at whatever papers in his hand when Lotor came sliding up to him, his long white hair tied up in a ponytail.

“You must be Shirogane’s younger brother. I am Lotor Diabazaal and I know it would do you well to be friends with me.”

Keith stared Lotor down with the same blank look he had given Lance when he first met him. He looked around Lotor to where Lotor’s friends, Nariti, Ezor, Zethrid and Acxa, all stood looking impressed with Lotor. Keith scoffed, making Lance hide his smile behind his hand. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.

“Shiro told me that the Diabazaal family where people who cared about themselves and anyone who was friends with them was desperate. I have no idea how those ladies are even still around you since being around you for a about a minute is enough already. So instead of wasting my time here even more, I’m going to ignore and continue ignoring you for the rest of the year.” With that, Keith walked off, leaving Lotor looking appealed.

Lance had to hide his face in his hands, as he cracked up. He could hear Hunk and Pidge dying in the background, Pidge mentioning how she was putting the incident online.

“Oh that was perfect.” Lance said, finally emerging from his hands. He saw that Keith was getting closer towards them and decided that maybe he should just forget what Keith said. He had a concussion, who knew maybe he’d be a bit nicer. He stood up and walked up to Keith. “Hi.”

Keith stopped in front of Lance, looking at him like he didn’t recognise him.

“Um I’m Lance. I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m the guy from the underwater cave?” still no reaction. “Ok, um, well I’m glad to see that you’re ok. That was really cool with Lotor. If you need any help, I’m more than willing.”

“No thanks, don’t need help from a dopy idiot.” Keith said, before walking around Lance and walking off. Lance stood there in shock. Keith, concussion or not, was a complete ass!

“What the hell? Was I even remotely rude to that guy? What’s his problem?” Lance demanded, as he turned around to watch the head of black hair move further down the hall.

“Hush, maybe he’s still suffering from the concussion?” Pidge suggested.

“Or maybe he is an ass. That was really rude and I thought you were pretty nice. Besides, you did save him.” Hunk pointed out.

“I don’t care. Doesn’t matter who his brother is or if he’s still hurt, he’s nothing but an ass.” Lance said.

* * *

 

While he was lucky enough to have his parents send him and Keith money every month, he didn’t feel right just sitting around the house doing nothing but reorganize his fossil and shell collection. So with Keith off at his first day at school, Shiro went searching for a job. He didn’t expect it to be so easy though. He had gone to the Marine Park hoping to find something to deal with the animals there. He always remembered how much the park cared for all the animals they housed here and wanted to be part of it. He was heading to manager’s office to figure out if they had any open positions, when one of the workers recognised him and asked him for an autograph. It still wowed him that people liked and admired him even though he didn’t do free diving anymore.

He was led into the office that housed the people who worked with the aquatic animals, while his fan went to grab a piece of paper from his desk. He noticed a man who while didn’t look old, had bright white hair and hands full of boxes. He grabbed the door for him and while he kept it open, finally recognised him.

“Wait, you’re Professor Alfor Altea right? The marine biologist?”

“Yes, that’s me. I’m afraid I don’t know you though. Unless I do, I’m afraid my brain is going.”

“I don’t know. I am Takashi Shirogane. If you follow anything about free diving, you might know me but I read your paper on dolphin behaviours when I attended Arus Uni. It was really good.”

“Oh well thank you. Shirogane? That sounds familiar though. Free diving you said?”

Shiro shrugged. He really didn’t like bragging about his accomplishments but if it helped. “I set the record deepest dive here about 6, 7 years ago.”

Alfor’s eyes brighten in recognition. “Yes of course. I have heard about you but I mostly heard about your accident when I moved down here I’m sorry to say. But my daughter mentioned you. She’s friends with Pidge Holt if you know her.”

“Yes I do. Matt’s one of my good friends.”

“I see. So what brings you back here?”

“Well to Arus, my brother. He wants to attend Arus Uni and it just worked out for us to move back down here. To the Marine Park, I was hoping to find a job.” Shiro said, giving a small shrug.

“I don’t know how much you’ll be able to do in that department. Most of the kids who’ve been here got jobs over the summer and have kept them for the school year.”

Shiro didn’t know why he was surprised. The Marine Park was a bit of an amusement park in its own right, to help build up revenue with all the money they spent taking care of the animals here and when he was a student, everyone wanted to get some kind job here. He should have expected that was still the case.

Alfor could see the disappointment on Shiro’s face. “What did you study at Arus University?” he asked, wondering if his idea was a good one.

“Oh, uh, double major in marine bio and mythological history.”

Alfor raised an eyebrow. “That’s quite a work load.”

Shiro shrugged. “A bit, but I was able to handle it pretty well.”

“How about this, you can work as my assistant. I have no clue about payment, I get paid by different organizations for papers I hand in and for a few lectures I give at the university so who knows. But if you’re up for it, I could use the help. I’m afraid my daughter doesn’t have any interest in this.”

“Um, yes sure. Absolutely, I’d love to. Thank you.”

“Found it.” His fan was back with paper in hand. “Oh hey doc, you meet our local celebrity yet?”

“Yes, I just became his boss. How about they give you my address and you come by tomorrow around 3:30?” Alfor asked Shiro.

“Um, yes, of course. I’ll see you then.” Shiro couldn’t wrap his mind around this; he was going to work for Alfor Altea.

“Very well, see you then Takashi.” Alfor said, giving a nod before he walked off.

“How about I get the autograph and I can give you that address?” Shiro’s fan asked, handing over the paper to Shiro.

Before he knew it he had the address in hand. He couldn’t believe how easy that was. He knew that the work would make up for it but still. He didn’t need to stick around the Marine Park, Keith should be out of school now and honestly he wanted to ask how the first day was. Plus he was going to keep him out of the water for another couple days after his concussion. He was wondered what to do when he stopped at the sight of an ice cream cart.

“I wonder if they still have it.” He muttered to himself.

Lance was texting Hunk from behind his ice cream cart, trying not to get caught. He was still complaining about Keith and his rudeness. He knew he was probably going on and on about it, but he was annoyed. He tried being nice and the asshole was, well, an asshole.

“Excuse me?” shit, customer. He really hoped his manager wasn’t around.

He popped up like a jack-in-the-box only to stare at the sight of Takashi Shirogane standing in front of him.

“Oh my gosh, you’re Takashi Shirogane! You’re like, my hero!”

Shiro let out a shy laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with prosthetic hand. “That’s me and thank you.”

“Oh wow, Pidge told me you were back in town but I didn’t think I’d get the chance to meet you so soon. I thought I’d have to beg them to even introduce us and she knows I’d really like to meet you, unless she was saving it to try and get me to do something for her, knowing her and I’m babbling. Sorry.”

_‘And now he thinks you’re a freaky fan. Nice one Lance.’_

Shiro waved it off, “no it’s fine really. Thank you, really. It’s still kind of weird that people still like me even though I don’t free dive anymore. And you know Pidge?”

“Oh yeah, we’re best friends. I’m Lance McClain.”

“Oh right, you’re Arus’ Water Angel.”

Feeling a bit awkward all of a sudden, he corrected him. “Former Water Angel. Don’t really do water anymore since my accident. Pidge or Matt might have told you.”

“They did, but I have to say, even if it is former, your much braver than I am.” At Lance’s stunned face, Shiro explained. “After my accident, I couldn’t stay here and my parents somehow agreed to move us back to Japan. You not only stayed here but you got a job working here like a week after. If that’s not bravery, I don’t know what is.”

Lance almost felt like bursting into tears. He’d heard that stuff from other people but hearing it from his hero just made it mean so much more.

“thanks.” He said, the awkwardness gone and validation growing in his chest. “Anything you want?” he asked, gesturing to the cart.

“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve been here obviously, but do you guys still have those fruit pops, but the ones that were kinda more exotic fruits?”

Lance opened the hatch and reached in, grabbing two packages. “Passion fruit or coconut? We rarely do guava anymore unfortunately.”

“That was my favourite one. Um, I’ll take coconut.”

“By the way, while I still have the courage to do this, your brother is an ass.”

Shiro blinked at Lance in confusion. “My brother? Keith?” then like something clicked, he pointed to Lance, who handed him his popsicle. “Wait a second. That night we moved back, when Keith hit his head. Pidge mentioned that it was you.”

“Yep, didn’t get a thank you then and he was a complete asshole to me today when I tried being nice to him. Look I like you but honestly it’s gonna be really hard to like your brother with the way he acted.”

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I know he seemed a bit rude that night, but I thought he would have been a bit nicer today. I’ll talk to him. You saved my brother, you at least deserve a thank you from him. But from me, a big thank you. Guess you’re much braver than I thought, being at the place of your accident. I don’t think I could do that.” He handed Lance a five and waved, walking off.

“Uh, wait, your change!”

“Keep it, you deserve it. See you around Water Angel.”

Lance felt his face turn a bit red. He might have had an impossible crush on Shiro, but when that stuff happened, how could he not. Now if only his younger brother could act like that.

* * *

 

Matt stood behind the counter, watching Allura and her newly formed band do a short practise session. He had no problem them doing at the café, he knew it would drum up business with people being interested in the band, coming to watch the band get better for the performances. And was he glad he asked Allura, her voice was amazing.

“I can’t wait to see the first performance.” Pidge said, from her seat at the bar. “What are they calling themselves?”

“I think she said they were going to announce it at their first performance. Not sure when that will be but hopefully sometime next week. And maybe advertising…” he hinted to his little sister, who just rolled her eyes.

“Fine, I better be getting paid for my services.”

“As always.” He answered when he noticed Shiro walking in. he saw him stopping and looking over at the stage, looking at Allura. He recognised that enchanted look. “Hey, doesn’t it look like Shiro’s got a crush?”

Pidge looked over her shoulder to where Shiro was blocking the front entrance. “I think that’s a very big possibility. He looks like Lance when he gets a crush, but less you know, Lance. Teasing when he finally gets over here right?”

“Like we’d do anything less. What do you think I am Pidgey?”

The applause at the end of the band’s performance snapped Shiro out of his stupor. He’d never heard someone sing so well and he couldn’t remember the last time he was so enamoured by a performance. And she was so pretty. Her white hair was long and her blue eyes were bright enough to be seen from across the room.

“Take a picture, it lasts longer.” Shiro hadn’t even noticed he walked over to the bar. Pidge and Matt were giving him twin smug looks.

“What?”

“Nothing, just you seemed really interested in Allura.” Pidge said

Allura, it fit her. She was really alluring to look at.

“Shiro, come back to earth.” Matt teased

“Shut up four eyes.”

Just then Allura got off the stage and walked over. Shiro was sure he saw hints of purple in her blue eyes. This was strange, Shiro never felt so enamoured by someone so quickly. But she was like some sort of fantastical creature that was almost too perfect to exist.

“Hey Allura, you guys sounded great.” Matt said, keeping a close eye on Shiro.

“Yes, no thanks to you. I had to go find that band myself yesterday while your sister was getting checked out.”

Shiro looked at Pidge to notice one of her hands was wrapped in gauze. He guessed it wasn’t bad since Matt never told him anything.

“I still feel like its missing something though. Like a special instrument of some sort. I don’t know, perhaps I’m wishing for too much.” Allura said, looking thoughtful.

“Who knows, only practise will tell. Anyway, Allura meet Shiro. Shiro, this is Allura Altea. Shiro’s the free diver we told you about.” Pidge explained.

Altea? Wait, like…? “Is your father Alfor Altea?” Shiro asked

Allura nodded. “Yes. How do you know him?”

“Uh, he just offered me a job as his assistant.”

“Oh how wonderful! I’m glad he finally gave in. he had so much work to do. You’ll have fun working with him. I don’t like it particularly but he’s still an amazing teacher. It’ll be nice to see you around.” Allura said, shaking Shiro’s hand. Shiro felt like his face was getting hot. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

 

Keith laid a violin case on the table in front of the couch when Shiro opened the front door.

“There you are. I thought you would have gone to the Lion’s Castle.”

Keith scrunched his forehead as he opened the case and opened the locks that kept his violin in place. “Lion’s Castle, what the heck is that?”

“The local seaside café. It’s really popular amongst the high school kids. Didn’t any of the kids at school tell you about it?”

“Why would I talk to them?”

“You didn’t talk to anyone?” he knew Keith was a bit anti-social, but this was a whole new level. He watched as Keith tuned his violin before pulling out his bow and rosining and started rosin up the bow. “Keith, I know you have a hard time meeting people, but you are going to at least make one friend. Maybe like Lance.”

That got Keith’s attention. “How the hell do you know Lance?”

“Other than the fact that Pidge mentioned him after you came back with a concussion, he works at the local Marine Park. So unless he was lying to me, he came up to you today and you were, in his words, ‘an asshole’?”

Keith rolled his eyes, focusing back on his bow. “He did come up to me and I blew him off, so what?”

Shiro sighed, covering his face with his hand. “I am not telling you to become best friends with him but Keith, you got really hurt in that cave. If it wasn’t for Lance, I wouldn’t know where you were and wouldn’t be able to find you. The very least you could do is thank him for helping if nothing else. If you don’t want to be around him after that, then you don’t have to. Just, thank him, please.”

Keith stopped and looked at his brother. He knew he was rude but he didn’t like having to get help, so he just brushed Lance off. To him, he thought Lance was trying to rub in his face what happened. But even if he was, Shiro was right. He helped Keith, not even knowing him or who his brother was. The least he could do was thank him.

He let out a sigh. “Alright. I will talk to him tomorrow.”

“That’s all I ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> In the next chapter everything changes for them. I hope my writing wasn't to weird. I'm hoping that once I get into the story it'll be a bit more natural. Feel free to come talk to me on my tumblr sasuhinasno1fan


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